Love Remains (22 page)

Her eyes followed several people as they walked into the building. “Because that way I don’t have to put someone though…through… well, through a whole lot of pain and suffering.”

“You think that having a relationship with you is going to cause someone a whole lot of pain and suffering?” He reached over and took her hand in his. “I can tell you, that isn’t the case.”

She pulled her hand away from his, stood, slung her bag over her shoulder, and backed a few steps away from him. “Flannery asked me Sunday why I always expect things to turn out badly. It’s because they do. Just look at us, Bobby. You know, in a way, I’m glad you wised up and walked away. If we’d stayed together, it would have been the worst mistake of our lives.”

Tears once again swimming in her eyes, Zarah lingered a brief moment longer then dashed to her car and drove away.

“I’m glad you wised up and walked away. “

She thought
he
had walked away from her? Of course that was what her father would have told her to get her to leave for college without even trying to say good-bye to him.

Bobby stood and dusted off the back of his pants before returning to his car. He’d head back to the office and get a couple more hours of work put in on completing Zarah’s profile. Now, more than ever, he wanted to get her name cleared from the suspect list as soon as possible—so he could start rebuilding their relationship without that hanging over them.

She might assume things always turned out badly. But he had enough optimism for both of them.

Chapter 16

A
t ten o’clock Friday morning, Bobby ushered the two agents assigned to his case into his office, followed shortly thereafter by the unit’s forensic accountant.

The time had come to discuss Zarah with his team.

He handed folders to the two men and one woman now sitting in the chairs they’d rolled in from the furniture storage closet next door. Four people in his tiny office made it nearly claustrophobic, but he didn’t want to do this out on the floor where anyone could hear their conjectures, suspicions, and conclusions.

Bobby quickly went through the relevant details of Zarah’s life: born in Georgia when her father was stationed at Fort Benning. Had lived in four different states and two foreign countries by the time she graduated from high school in New Mexico. Finished her BA in history at Vanderbilt in three years, then her master’s and PhD in historic preservation at James Robertson University by the time she was twenty-five. Started working at the Middle Tennessee Historic Preservation Commission part-time when she was a graduate student, full-time after she finished her doctorate. Taught history as an adjunct professor at both the community college and JRU every semester since finishing school herself. Had been promoted to assistant director and
senior preservationist two years ago.

“Now that you know the basics, I’ll turn this over to Jill so she can review the financial records for us.”

“Thanks.” The middle-aged woman scooted forward in her seat. “If you’ll turn to page ten of the dossier, you’ll see my summary of Mitchell’s financial records. There are a couple of unusual findings, though nothing irregular that I could find.”

Bobby flipped to that page of the report, though he almost had it memorized by now.

“Dr. Mitchell has an unusually large life insurance policy for someone so young who is unmarried and has no children. That, combined with the fact that it’s a term policy that will expire before she’s sixty leads me to wonder why she would have chosen such a policy.

“Next, you’ll see that she has a very large savings account—in addition to a few other large investment products, like CDs and money market accounts. From what I can tell, there have been no unusual or one-time large deposits to these accounts—but what is she socking away all this money for? She purchased a house five years ago. She paid off her car more than eight years ago. She paid off a twenty-year student loan in less than eight years.”

Jill dipped her head and looked at Bobby over the rim of her readers. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I’m looking at the financial records of someone who was putting her affairs in order.”

“What do you mean? Affairs in order for what?” Gage, the younger of the two agents, asked the forensic accountant.

Instead of answering the young man, Jill kept her gaze on Bobby. “There’s something going on in this woman’s life to lead her to believe that she needs to get everything wrapped up before she’s forty years old—because she’s on track to have her house paid off by then. Either she’s planning for a very early retirement, or there’s something else going on. I know it’s not my job to try to profile anyone, but I’m just telling you what the numbers are telling me—and they’re telling me
something’s off about this woman. No one in their early thirties has financials like this.”

Bobby cleared his throat—twice. What
was
Zarah socking all that money away for? “We’ll look into that. You said there were a few things that caught your attention?”

“Yes. Seven years ago, over the course of about six months, Dr. Mitchell purchased eight airline tickets. Within a week of each of those, her bank account showed restaurant and other charges in Houston, Texas. No hotel charges, though. So I cross-referenced this suspect’s file with the other suspect in the case…Forrester. Not only did Forrester already own several properties in Houston—including a small boutique hotel, at which I believe Dr. Mitchell most likely stayed during her trips there, as many of the restaurants she charged meals at are near it—but during the six months that Mitchell made these eight trips, Forrester made several additional real estate transactions in Houston. His accounts show that he made three trips to Houston during corresponding dates when Dr. Mitchell was there.”

Bobby’s heart sank. She’d traveled with her boss? What sway did that man hold over her? What had he dragged her into?

“She has also made several trips to northern Virginia and Washington DC throughout the years, and there have been some crossovers with Forrester’s accounts there as well.”

Bobby’s stomach churned the longer Jill talked. If he didn’t know Zarah—or believe he knew her based on what he’d
known
of her—he’d be as suspicious of her activities as the other three people in the room appeared to be. The fact of the matter was that he was making some pretty big assumptions about her from things she’d shared with him a decade and a half ago—almost half their lifetimes. A lot could change in that many years, especially for someone as eager to please others as Zarah was.

Once Jill finished her overview of Zarah’s financial records, she left the room. Gage and Milligan shoved the extra chair out into the hallway and leaned forward on the edge of Bobby’s desk.

“So, what do you say? Sounds like she’s involved in one way or another with this Forrester’s real estate schemes. Where are his records?” Milligan shrugged out of his suit coat and rolled up his sleeves.

“Why do you believe she’s involved?” Bobby rocked back, remembering too late that the spring was loose. He caught the edge of his desk to keep from flipping backward out of the chair.

“Right now, it’s all circumstantial,” Gage said, frowning over the page summarizing Zarah’s financial information. “But it does point toward her involvement.”

“Involvement in what?” Milligan demanded. “We haven’t seen Forrester’s records yet. The only thing she might be involved in is possibly some real estate transactions in Houston seven years ago.”

“Well…and involved with Forrester. I mean, they have been traveling together.”

Bobby bit his tongue so hard it made his eyes water. But it was either that or punch out Gage. And he didn’t think it would look good at his ninety-day employment review to have to explain why he’d decked a subordinate.

“Again, circumstantial,” Milligan muttered, buried in the dossier. He flipped back to the opening pages of the profile. “There isn’t really much in here about her family. Other than her father’s being in the army, what else is known about her family?”

Bobby crossed his arms. “She has one sister—older. Her mother died when Z—Dr. Mitchell was eight years old. Cancer. Mitchell left home at eighteen and moved to Nashville. Her grandparents live here, and she is close with them. Her father, now a three-star general, has been at the Pentagon since 2001—survived the 9/11 attack.” He’d been surprised to find that tidbit of information on the man who’d ruined his life.

“Any info on the whereabouts of the sister?” Gage asked.

Bobby turned to his computer and pulled up his saved search for Zarah. Backtracking through her information, it only took him a couple of minutes to find the sister’s birth certificate and—

“Well, this could explain why Dr. Mitchell made so many trips to Houston. The sister, Phoebe Mitchell, died there six and a half years ago. Official cause of death…” The text on the screen stabbed through him. “Official cause of death is overdose of prescription pain medication. Ruled suicide. Apparently she was being treated for cancer, though.”

Oh, Zarah. Not your sister, too
.

“So the mother and sister both had cancer? Could that be why Mitchell is putting her affairs in order, as Jill said?” Milligan asked. “What if Mitchell has found out that she has cancer—or the gene for it? There are some kinds of cancers that are genetic.”

Bobby’s hands drew into fists. Not Zarah. God wouldn’t let that happen. Not to her. Not now, not when he could see the chance of eventually having her back in his life.

“I don’t know.” Gage drew out his words as if weighing each one before speaking it. “I have a hard time believing that anyone who is so careful with her own money would be involved in any kind of fraud. Besides, if Forrester was involved in some kind of real estate fraud in Houston, Mitchell’s accounts don’t show any evidence that she derived any financial reward, either from him or from the transactions.”

“Secret or off-shore accounts we didn’t find?” Milligan postulated.

Gage shook his head. “Why would she keep so much money in these accounts if she had some secret stash elsewhere? Why not keep just a nominal amount in her regular accounts and transfer all the rest of this to her secret stash? No, once her savings account grew to the maximum level, it looks like she started investing in CDs and money market accounts. Someone who has off-shore accounts wouldn’t leave this much just sitting around.”

Bobby cheered slightly. The kid was right—and Bobby had investigated enough financial fraud cases to back up the statement.

“Unless she’s someone who expects her accounts to be examined and created this kind of financial trail to throw us off.”

On the other hand, Milligan could be correct. There were some people who were savvy enough to plant evidence to point toward their innocence. Could Zarah be one of them?

“If she does have a more-than-professional relationship with Forrester, he could have accounts set up for her that we don’t know about yet.” Gage frowned as he looked from Milligan to Bobby. “When are we going to get the full profile on Forrester?”

Bobby pulled his mind back from the whirlwind of conjecture and speculation about Zarah. “Jill told me it would probably be the beginning of next week before she finishes analyzing Forrester’s financials.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Let’s reconvene next Wednesday after the weekly unit briefing. Until then, keep researching the background of the real estate and contractor companies involved before and after the injunctions and sales of the land tracts the MTHPC has been involved in over the past ten years.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gage and Milligan moved the extra chairs back out of Bobby’s office. He stood and closed the door behind them. He needed time to think…and pray.

“Dr. Mitchell, you have a guest in the museum.”

“Thanks, Debby.” Zarah hung up the phone and blew out a nervous breath and grabbed the last file she needed to take home this weekend. Ever since leaving church Wednesday evening, her conversation with Bobby hadn’t stopped running through her head.

And now she would have to face him again—one-on-one, with no buffer of other people around. She stuck the file into her bag, flung it over her shoulder, and turned the office light off.